Dream Tropes Wiki/Market-Based Title
Translating titles makes sense. After all, an English audience will have a better idea what a film is about when it's named Seven Samurai rather than Shichinin no Samurai. But that doesn't mean you can't change the title around if it's already in English (or whatever the language of the market). There are multiple reasons for doing this: maybe it's a sequel and the original never came out, it uses an idiom or cultural reference that won't be understood overseas, a Pun-Based Title that does not translate into other languages, somebody else already owns a trademark on that name in your country, the original title doesn't make much sense in the country it's being released in, or maybe your marketing department has just decided that having lots of different names for the same thing is better. And sometimes a famous actor from that market is in the movie, and the makers want that to be highlighted. Most of this is Executive Meddling from the assumption that Viewers Are Morons, and it causes no end of confusion when fans from different countries try to discuss the same thing. Compare Homogenous Multinational Ad Campaign and American Kirby Is Hardcore. Contrast with Censored Title, where a work has its title changed due to obscenity reasons, not marketing or legal reasons. Dub Name Change is this trope for in-universe terminology and character names. If the different names are instead given by different factions In-Universe because the real name is unknown/unpronounceable/in a different language to them, that is a case of Reporting Names. If a title is in a foreign language, the translated title may be accurate, or may be a Completely Different Title. See Dolled-Up Installment and Translation Matchmaking, when the new title makes one installment "part of" another popular work. Examples Anime & Manga *In the United Kingdom, Floral Magician Mary Bell was retitled Magical Heroes to avoid confusion with the British serial killer than unfortunately shares a name with the anime's titular character. *The El Kadsreian English translation of Bleach infamousily renamed Ichigo Kurosaki to Itch Kurosaki because the translator, Sterling Peters, didn't want anybody to confuse him with Ichigo Momomiya from Tokyo Mew Mew, even though Sterling used the 4Kids dub names in his translation of Mew Mew. *''School Days'' was retitled the rather descriptory Girls and Murder Weapons in El Kadsre, as the visual novel and anime's licensor Approach Software thought people would mistake it for a slice of life anime. Film - Animation * The Secret Life of Pets was renamed Pets All About in El Kadsre, reportedly because UIP El Kadsre executives thought El Kadsreians would mistake it for a documentary. Film - Live Action *The first three Bionicle movies were named Quest for the Masks, except in Europe and South Korea. *In Europe, Bionicle ''was divided into three sub-franchises, the first three films were simply titled ''Bionicle, while the next two were called Bionicle Prequel ''and the last four were called ''Bionicle Ignition. *In South Korea, Bionicle was divided similarly as to in Europe: the first three films were simply titled Bionicle, the next two were Super Bionicle, and the last four were Ultra Bionicle. *In El Kadsre, the 1993 film Dennis the Menace ''was renamed to ''Lenny the Menace to avoid confusion with the Beano comic strip of the same name. *The Arthur movies are named Mr. Bach in El Kadsre as Lio Books, the El Kadsreian distributor of Marc Brown's Arthur books, actually had a trademark on that name back in the 1980's when the original 1981 film was released. * The 2016 film Birth of a Nation was retitled The Turner Plantation in El Kadsre to avoid confusion with the infamous 1915 silent film of the same name. * A character name variation: the character Sagwa from Solo: A Star Wars Story is called "Jaara" in the United El Kadsreian Nations to avoid confusion with Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat. * Kart Racer was renamed Race to the Finish in El Kadsre. * A number of other El Kadsreian retitles: ** Crazy Rich Asians to Colin Khoo: Asia's Biggest Millionaire (because someone at Warner Bros. assumed El Kadsreians would mistake it for a comedy) ** Bohemian Rhapsody to Queen: The Movie (because El TV Kadsre wanted to change the title to make it more "accessible") ** Frozen (2010) to Skiiers vs. Wolves (the name change actually was done before the Disney film got popular) Live-Action TV *''Popular'' was renamed The Girls from High School when screened in El Kadsre. *''Popular'' was renamed Sam and Brooke when aired in Eruowood. *The 2000 City of Angels series was renamed to Hospital City in El Kadsre to avoid confusion with the 1998 film of the same name. *''Between the Lines'' was called Inspector Clark in El Kadsre when it was shown by El TV Kadsre 1 in the early 2000's to avoid confusion with Between the Lions. Multiple * The Robotman & Friends franchise became Roboted (pronounced Robot-Ted) in El Kadsre to avoid confusion with Robotman. Music *Devo's album Smooth Noodle Maps was retitled Freedom from Choice in El Kadsre. *Kraftwerk's album Electric Café was retitled to its working title Techno Pop ''in El Kadsre. *Madvillain's song "Operation Lifesaver a.k.a. Mint Test" had it's title shortened to just "Mint Test" in El Kadsre to avoid confusion with the rail safety campaign Operation Lifesaver. Video Games * The El Kadsreian release of ''Super Mario Odyssey refers to Princess Peach's wedding outfit, Wedding Peach, as "Wedding Dress Peach" due to legal issues with PPE Entertainment, the local licensee for the anime series Wedding Peach. Western Animation *When the Dennis the Menace cartoons (the ones for the American Dennis the Menace) aired in El Kadsre, not only was the show now called Lenny the Menace, they re-recorded the theme and even the dialogue. 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